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Paris Cemeteries — Cimetiere de Passy

Some people are drawn to Paris for romance. Others come for the food. It was Paris cemeteries that initially drew me to the City of Lights. Paris was actually very far down my list of must-see places until a friend posted pictures of his trip to various Parisian cemeteries several years ago. We finally had a chance to fly over just before Christmas 2015. Given that I have kids–really small kids who are just grasping death and it kind of scares them–I wasn’t sure cemetery visits would be smart. Still, we chose to visit two and neither kid was traumatized. (We did have a lot of talks about where the people where located in the cemetery, and Zoey took the opportunity to spell out what we’d do if a zombie apocalypse went down while we were in there.)

Between the two we visited–Montparnasse and Passy–Passy was my absolute favorite. As you can see from one of the images below, there’s a nearly unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower from one side. There are also some ugly apartment buildings on the opposing side but it was easy to ignore those. Since I come from a long line of Debussy fans, finding his grave was important, but the entire resident list (is that even the correct term?) reads like a Who’s Who of writers, artists, composers, royalty, and statesmen. With the two little ones in tow, I spent more time just admiring the statues and art rather than trying to put together names and histories, and for that I feel like I missed out a bit. Maybe one day I can go back and connect it all.

Besides the practical information–cemeteries are free but do have hours (generally 8:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.) and Passy is near the Trocadero Metro stop–what else can you say about something so hauntingly beautiful?